I’ve asked some of my favorite creative mamas to help out while I’m away with our new baby. Today, one of my oldest blog friends – Kathryn from Snippet & Ink – is sharing the amazing photos and incredible details from her daughter’s strawberry-inspired first birthday party! –Nole

I’m just so excited for Nole right now! Babies are the best! While Nole takes some time with her new little one, I thought it might be fun to share some pics from my daughter’s first birthday party. Starting with the invitations, of course… – Kathryn of Snippet & Ink

Strawberries are pretty much my daughter’s favorite thing in life, so we made that the main motif for her birthday party. Courtney at Swiss Cottage Designs took our strawberry inspiration and created these darling invitations for us.

I don’t get crafty nearly as often as I’d like, but ever since I got my hands on Paper to Petal, I couldn’t wait to make some paper flowers. Party hats seemed like the perfect place to put them!

Each month of Caroline’s first year, we took a photo of her in a white camisole next to a chalkboard that said “1 month old,” “2 months old,” etc. I didn’t really want to do a big display with them, but I did think it would be fun to share them in some way at the party. I decided to make them into an album that guests could write in, and we had it on a table with a sign that read: “Please leave a note for Caroline, sharing advice, words of wisdom, or a wish or hope for her future.” (MyPublisher had a deal for new customers, so I used that for the album and ended up only have to pay for shipping.)

For seating we used tables borrowed from my mom and neighbors and covered them with checked linens from La Tavola. For centerpieces, we clustered terra cotta pots of white impatiens, bacopa, and strawberries – we weren’t sure there would actually be berries on them by the time of the party, so it was a fun surprise when there were!

In keeping with the berry theme, I packaged the party favors in little wood berry baskets from Garnish. They included bubbles (wrapped in tissue paper), sidewalk chalk, a strawberry lollipop, and freeze-dried strawberries. We didn’t plan activities for the kids, and instead just let them run around with bubbles and sidewalk chalk.

We served mini sandwiches and pasta salad for lunch, and with the help of my mom and sisters, we did a dessert table: chocolate chip cookies, malted chocolate pots de creme, berry shortcakes, lemon raspberry cupcakes, caramel corn, and a sponge cake with strawberries and mascarpone whipped cream frosting. Not surprisingly, Caroline was way more interested in the berries than in the cake.

Since I look at pretty parties all day long as part of my job, it was really fun to get to actually throw one, but it was also exhausting – there’s no way I could have pulled it off without lots of help from our families. In the end it was a really special day, which had little to do with all the details I planned, and had everything to do with the wonderful people who helped us celebrate our Caroline!

Photos: Leah McCormick
Invitations: Swiss Cottage Designs
Linens: La Tavola